Eurostat, the EU’s information service, recorded that, as of autumn 2008, there were 287,600 UK nationals working in other EU countries. At the same time, there were 1,020,000 EU citizens working in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The EU figure was presented to Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, by Nigel Farage, of Ukip, during BBC’s Daily Politics debate.

Mr Farage said: “These figures destroy the argument that we have a mutually beneficial open door with the EU.”

Mr Woolas questioned why Mr Farage would trust the Eurostat figure before saying that there were more than two million Britons on the Continent when you looked at those who “live and work” there.

Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: “This Government is determined to mislead the British people about the effects of their immigration policy to the end. It’s clear that the failure to put transitional controls on when the EU expanded was one of many disastrous decisions they’ve taken.”

Meanwhile, theLiberal Democratssaid yesterday that they would test their proposed regional-based immigration policy on Scotland first.